For a long time I was running WMP9 with no problems. After some crash I found that it wasn't working and wouldn't reinstall properly. When I tried to use it it always froze up and froze up the Desktop with it.

I have tried reinstalling and uninstalling WMP9 and even reinstalling Windows several times. I recently tried installing WMP7 but I got the same results.

This is presumably something pretty fundamental but what?

Dear Plonkeroo,
HI.  You haven,t mentioned the version of Windows you are using.
.
However you may try to download the media player 11 from this site
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx.

before installing this player you should install the DIRECT X runtime (DirectX 9.0c End-User Runtime) from this site, assuming you already have direct x installed.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0a9b6820-bfbb-4799-9908-d418cdeac197&DisplayLang=en
You can download the direct x from:http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.mspx
.
If you are still recieving the errors messages please do visit this site.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/mediaadvice/0094.
mspx
.
Regards,
Viqar

Sorry, I meant to. It's Win98SE. But I never used to have any problem at all with WMP9 until recently. I do have the latest DirectX installed.

WMP10 and WM11 refuse to install unless WMP9 is already properly in place.

Thanks for your response. I shall now follow through on the links you provided and will let you know if I have any joy.